Everyday Canvas

If I were to play favorites...

Prompt: Who was your favorite first lady?
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Well, the original first lady was Eve, and I haven’t met her. Some insist she is my great, great (many greats here) grandmother, but I take most anything legendary with a grain of salt, since there was that guy Darwin, too, with other ideas.

This prompt, however, doesn’t say first lady of what or where; therefore first, I have to get the "favorite" part of it out of my system.

Right at this moment, my favorite first lady is the The StoryMistress as the co-owner and manager of WdC and a wonderful mother to two bright ones. She is also an artist and animal lover; plus, I’m sure she has many other gifts we are not aware of.

Talking about first ladies, if the prompt means the USA, I haven’t met a first lady I haven’t liked, although I met none of them. Let’s say, I haven’t read about (or watched on TV) a first lady I haven’t liked. They were all wonderful women who had to put up with the hardships of their positions and spouses with huge egos. They all deserve purple hearts. Here are a few quotes by several of our first ladies of USA, some taken out of context and without any comment by me. Although I could take each quote and run with it…

"War is not nice." - Barbara Bush

"We're laying the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren," -Laura Bush

"I did what people do when they do the wrong thing," - Hillary Clinton

"The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse." - Jackie Kennedy

“I never felt hopelessly mutilated.” - Betty Ford

“Ike runs the country, and I turn the pork chops.” - Mamie Eisenhower

“I must say acting was good training for the political life which lay ahead for us.” – Nancy Reagan

“Being first lady is the hardest unpaid job in the world.” - Pat Nixon

"Don't worry about polls, but if you do, don't admit it.” - Rosalynn Carter

"The point is that Barack, like any leader, is human.” – Michelle Obama


Then, who can forget the first ladies of other countries? Mrs. Khrushchev (RIP) of Russia, for example. She became an example to the women of Russia by starting to take the spot in the Russian limelight, whereas the wives of other dignitaries stayed in the shadows of their husbands. On the other hand, most anyone I know--who was alive around the time Mrs. Khrushchev visited USA—remembers her eagerness in shopping, like any other woman.

As for the first ladies of European nations, I don’t even want to go there. Most of them are so lively that they would stun even the most inventive Hollywood gossipers.